Infant&#39;s hand guard



Jan. 30, 1940. J. KEENER INFANTS HAND GUARD Filed April 22, 1 939 Patented Jan. 30, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INFANTS HAND GUARD Jacob Keener, Chicago, Ill.

Application April 22, 1939, Serial No. 269,321

2 Claims.

The invention relates to a hand guard for infants and has a general object to provide a new and improved hand guard which is to be secured to an infants wrist, encloses the infants hand,

and houses a toy rattle, preventing the infant from putting its thumb or fingers in its mouth, and allowing the infant to play with the toy rattle by movements of the arm or hand, and also give freedom of movement of the hand or fingers.

Another object is to provide a guard composed of a stiff material having the shape of the frustum of a cone, and a wristlet of soft material with a tie threaded therethrough which may be tied to adjust the wristlet to various sizes of wrist.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from'the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a side elevational view of a guard embodying the features of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the wristlet end of the guard shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. Sis a plan section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1 showing toy rattle.

' As illustrated in the drawing for purposes of disclosure, the hand guard comprises a shield 5 formed from a single sheetv of stiff material with its ends secured togetherin overlapping relation by means of eyelets 6. The eyelets 6, in one particular, serve the additional purpose of providing ventilating openings. Eyelets ll serve as ventilating openings only. As clearly apparent in Fig. 1, the shield 5 at the end adjacent thewrist of the infant on whom theguard is attached is of a diameter much larger than the hand, to enable movement of the hand within the shield and moreover, the shield is given a frusto-conical shape so that it is even larger opposite the fingers, permitting free spreading thereof. Preferably,

the shield is made of a light weight, transparent material, such as Celluloid, so that the infant may see its hands through the guard. The edges are covered with a binding 1, so that they will not scratch. To secure the shield over the hand, the guard is provided with an annular wristlet 8 formed by a soft cloth folded upon itself and attached to the end of the shield, as by sewing the edges of the cloth on opposite-sides of the edge of the shield. Threaded through the wristlet 8 is a tie 9, preferably also of cloth, by means of which the wristlet may be tightened about the wrist of Y the infant. It will be apparentthat with a wristlet and tie of the character described, the wristlet may be adjusted to any degree of tightness and may also be adjusted to any size so that a standard guard will fit any infant, whether having a large or small wrist. In order that the wristlet may fit comfortably and present a neat appearance when adjusted for a small wrist, the edges of the wristlet are cut on a bias so as to diverge 5 when the wristlet is expanded, as clearly seen in Fig. 1. When out in that manner, the tie 9 may be drawn toform a very small opening through the wristlet, without having the wristlet bunch or pucker in an unsightly or uncomfortable manner. 10 The space between the edges of the wristlet, moreover, provides room for the knot of the bow ill into which the tie is tied when the guard is applied, see Fig. 2.

A toy rattle, whose walls are preferably made 15 of a transparent sheet material, such as Celluloid, is mounted in the larger'end of the shield and is constructed of members l2 and I3, properly secured, forming a hollow chamber to contain balls I have perfected a hand guard for infants which 25 has many improved features. One of the outstanding features is a .toy rattle constructed in the hand guard, making the hand guard a protec tive device and a toy rattle combined. Another feature is the construction of a wristlet, which 30 adapts a standard guard to be employed on all infants, be they large or small, and which enables the size, of the wristlet opening to be varied from day to day as the infant grows.

Moreover, the guard is readily appliedbecause 35 there is no tendency of the wristlet to constrict While being slipped on over the hand; neither is there any constriction about the wrist when in position, with the resultant tendency to stop the flow of blood to the hand, as in the case when 40 the wristlet itself is resilient, or when a rubber band is threaded through it. The guard is economically manufactured and of durable construction.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to 45 secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An anti-finger. sucking device forv infants comprising a stiff shield adapted loosely to enclose the hand of an infant, means at one end of the shield for securing the shield to the wrist of 50 the infant and a closure fitted in the opposite end of the shield, said closure being formed of two spaced-apart disks between which are disposed small balls to form a rattle.

2. A guard for the hands of infants comprising 55 a frustro-conical shield of stiff transparent material having a minimum diameter larger than the hand of the infant and a length in excess'of the length of an infants hand with the fingers extended, a wristlet of soft flexible material secured to the small end of the shield for securing the guard over the hand, said wristlet having its ends cut on the bias so that they diverge and form a recess, a tie threaded through the wristlet for tying the wristlet to the wristof the infant with its bow located in the recess between the ends of the wristlet and a hollow closure disposed.

within the open end of the shield, said hollow closure comprising two spaced-apart disks between which are disposed a few small balls to constitute a rattle. l

' JACOB KEENER.- 

